ABSTRACT
When asked the question ‘What is Europe?’ each one of us would probably give a different answer, depending on where we are from, where we live, or even our age. Most of us would assume that there is an absolute truth; a definitive answer to be given. We would argue on the criteria or the historical evidence and legacy on which this or that definition of Europe could or should rest. In this book, we tackle this question from its different dimensions. Europe is a geographical space; it is a continent. However, Europe is also a place: it is a space that is culturally constructed. It is a reference to the European continent that includes cultural elements, a past that is both objectively (based on historical events) and subjectively constructed (the events are given a specific meaning and are put into a wider ‘European’ framework of meaning) as European. Europe also has a geopolitical power dimension as it is a contested and probably fragmented, but still, a rather distinct global actor. This chapter elaborates on the different dimensions of the notion of Europe, with a view to introducing the reader to the chapters that follow.
